Should a church be recycled as an office?

from w
The old St Giles Presbyterian Church was sold a few decades ago when the church members joined the Uniting Church. It's bluestone, solid, and was recycled as a restaurant (I think) then as a nightclub (which I wasn't happy about at all and the owner eventually lost his license because there was a lot of trouble) and now it's been painted white inside and divided into spaces for three offices. No 3 at 74 Gheringhap Street Geelong is on sale for $850,000!


Should a building dedicated as a church be recycled into offices, a night-club, a house? Maybe, maybe not. I don't think it would ever happen in a place like Fiji!

The Shenton church, formerly Methodist, also became redundant a few years ago and it was sold to become the Performing Arts Centre for the Geelong High School. Well, we lived next door for nine years and I was happy about that as the school had been using the old halls etc. for many many years. Our old manse even went to the High School - the five bedrooms converted into music studios. Way to go!

City walls and recycled buildings in Geelong

from w
I have been interested to paint an old wall at the back of the National Wool Museum, but someone else beat me to making a picture of it! I saw this photograph on flickr and there it was - exactly the spot with the textures and patterns left after another building had been pulled down. The wall has looked like this for many years and there's a huge hole in the block in front while people work out what to do with the space.



Geelong's waterfront has changed over the past fifteen years with the old wool stores recycled as part of Deakin University, new high rise apartments, a flash hotel - Sheraton I think, and so on - sometimes blocking the view of the sea for others.

I really like the Deakin campus though, recycling these old buildings by keeping their fine wood and spaces and even smells that remind me of the wool bales that used to be sold there. (My father owned shearing sheds and there is a sentimental reminder of my childhood when I go into these kind of spaces.)

Also the plan to put a bridge over Yarra Street is going ahead (despite our protests)- Westfield - big business of the capitalists seems to dominate these days. Meanwhile they will close the only large supermarket left in the city for six months while they renovate. Good - we will go elsewhere!